Buckingham pub history index & 1863 Gentry & Traders
Directory of Pubs in the UK, historical public houses, Taverns, Inns, Beer Houses and Hotels in Buckinghamshire. The Buckinghamshire listing uses information from census, Trade Directories and History to add licensees, bar staff, Lodgers and Visitors.
BUCKINGHAM is a parish, borough, and ancient market town, in the hundred,
union, and county of its name; situate on the London and Birmingham road,
and on the Banbury and Bletchley branch of the London and North Western
Railway, 57 miles N.W. from London, 17 N.W. from Aylesbury, 10 from
Wolverton, and 24 N.N.E. from Oxford. For civil and ecclesiastical purposes
the town and parish are co-extensive, and comprise the district of Gawcott,
the hamlets of Bourton, Bufflers Holt, Lenborough, the district of Bourton
Holt, and the Precinct of Prebend End. The town stands on a bend of the
river Ouse, by which it is nearly surrounded, and over which are three
handsome stone bridges; the houses are generally of brick, and the place is
paved, lighted with gas, and well supplied with water. In the year 1725 it
suffered severely from fire, at which time property was destroyed to the
amount of about £40,000. The earliest charter of incorporation dates from
the reign of Edward III., which charter was confirmed by Henry VIII and
afterwards by Queen Mary in 1554, in return for services rendered by the
inhabitants in the suppression of the Duke of Northumberland's rebellion, on
the Queen's accession to the throne; this charter appears to have been
surrendered and a new one granted in the 36th year of Charles II., 1684 The
corporation acted upon the latter for several years, but in consequence of a
dispute with James II, in 1688 - during which the King successively removed
three mayors elected by them in the course of three months - quo warrantos
were issued, and after some litigation the charter of Charles II. was also
surrendered. The corporation afterwards availed themselves of the
Proclamation for restoring surrendered charters, by resuming the charter of
Mary, under which they hare ever since continued to act, and by which the
government was vested in a mayor, four aldermen, and twelve councillors,
under the style of the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses of the borough and
parish of Buckingham, in the county of Buckingham. The borough has returned
two members to Parliament, since the 33rd of Henry VIII. Before the passing
of the Reform Act the members of the corporation, thirteen in number, had
the exclusive right of voting, and were in the interest of the Duke of
Buckingham. The parliamentary limits comprise the several parishes of
Buckingham, Maids Morton, Thornborough, Padbury, Hillesden, Preston-Bissett,
Tingewick, and Ratcliffe-cumChackmore. The present members are - Sir Harry
Verney, Bart., and John Gellibrand Hubbard, Esq. The town is a polling
station for the election of county members, and has given the title of Duke
to the families of Stafford, Villiers, and Sheffield; it now confers it on
the distinguished family of Grenville. A good amount of business is
transacted here; many of the poor are employed in making lace; there are two
breweries, two corn mills, and an extensive tannery. At the Canal Wharf are
steam mills for crushing bones, and a superphosphate of lime manufactory, in
the occupation of Mr. Henry Thorpe. An important market is held on Saturday,
for meat and corn, at which there is always a large attendance of the
neighbouring farmers; a calf market (said to be the largest in England) is
also held on Monday. Twelve fairs are held annually, as follows:- January
12, last Monday in January, March 7, second Monday in April, May 6, Whit
Thursday, second Wednesday in August, September 4, November 8, December 13,
cattle, July 10, wool and cattle, October 2, Sat. after October 11, cattle,
hiring.
The Town Hall, situate in the centre of the town, is a neat brick building,
containing the chambers for holding the courts. Here the Magistrates'
meeting is held for the Borough. A conspicuous object at the bottom of the
Market Square is the Borough Gaol, built in the style of a Gothic castle,
with square towers, battlements, &c.; it was erected by Lord Cobham in 1848,
at an expense of £7000. On the committal of county prisoners they are
removed hence to Aylesbury, so that the Gaol is now only used for them as a
temporary place of confinement; the Borough prisoners undergo their sentence
here.
The Parish Church, dedicated to St. Peter, is the most conspicuous object of
the town, and was erected in 1781, on the mound of an ancient castle, said
to have been built before the Conquest by one of the Earls of Buckingham;
the occasional discovery of the foundations of which constitute its only
vestiges. The church, an elegant modern structure of free-stone, was begun
in 1777 and completed in four years, at an expense of £7000, principally
contributed by Earl Temple. At the west is a handsome tower, with pinnacles,
embrasures, and a symmetrical spire rising to the height of 150 feet. The
interior is elegantly fitted up in the Doric and Ionic styles, with richly
ornamented columns and arched ceiling; the altar-piece, presented by the
Marquis of Buckingham, is a good copy of the celebrated painting of the
Transfiguration by Raffaelle. The living is a vicarage, rated in Liber Regis
at £22, present annual value about £450; the Rev W. F. Norris, is vicar. The
Baptists, Independents, Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists, have each a
chapel here. The Free Grammar School, now called St. John's Royal Latin
School, was founded by Edward VI., and endowed with the revenues of a
chantry belonging to the Guild of the Holy Trinity. This chapel was founded
in the year 1268, by Matthew Strutton, Archdeacon of Buckingham, and
dedicated to St. John the Baptist and to St. Thomas a Beckett. The school is
enclosed by an ancient wall with a Norman doorway, which, with the seats
erected in the time of Edward VI., are objects of great interest. Six boys
are educated on the foundation. Extensive grounds are attached, making it a
very desirable residence for the scholars, who are prepared principally for
commercial pursuits, under the superintendence of Mr. T. Owain Jones, the
head-master. Wycliffe house, a large Elizabethan structure in Well street,
is occupied as a Classical and Mathematical School for young gentlemen of
which Mr. E. W. Simmons, M.R.c.p., is the head-master, There is a National
School, a British School, and a Green Coat School for 25 boys; the latter
founded and endowed in 1760, by Mr. Gabriel Newton, Alderman of Leicester.
The principal charity is two almshouses, called Christ's Hospital, endowed
for 12 poor women; the other charities connected with the town produce about
£140 annually.
Buckingham may lay claim to a history of great antiquity. Bishop Kennett, in
his "Parochial Antiquities," mentions it as the probable spot where the
Roman general Aulus Plautius surprised and routed the Britons under the
command of Caractacus and Togodumnus, the sons of Cunobelin. In 1837 the
remains of a Roman villa were discovered on a farm on the road to Stony
Stratford, within two miles of Buckingham; and a coin found with a reverse
bearing the Cross and the Alpha and Omega, indicate that it was struck after
the reign of the Emperor Constantine, probably by one of his sons or the
usurper Decentius. Within a mile of this villa are two tumuli or barrows,
which are thought to contain the remains of those wfo fell in the battle
above alluded to. The town was celebrated in early Saxon times as the
burial-place of St. Rumbald, whose coffin was discovered in the old
structure that stood on the site of the present parish church. According to
an absurd Popish legend, he was born at King's Sutton, but only lived three
days, during which time he discoursed, says Fuller, "of all the commonplaces
of Popery," was baptised and bequeathed his body to his birth-place for one
year, to Brackley for two years, and afterwards to Buckingham for ever. His
well and shrine were much resorted to by pilgrims. About two miles N.W. from
Buckingham is Stowe House, the magnificent seat of the Duke of Buckingham;
the avenue leading from the town to the grand Corinthian arched entrance is
a most beautiful gravelled promenade, two miles in length. The mansion
consists of a centre, with a portico flanked by two wings; the entire length
of the facade being 916 feet. The Gardens have the reputation of being the
finest example of landscape gardening in this country, and were originally
laid out by Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham. The art treasures, for
which this noble seat was lately so celebrated, are now dispersed through an
act of unexampled and heroic abnegation generally known to the public. In
1861 the population of the municipal limits was 3849, and of the
parliamentary limits 7626; Area of the entire parish 4777 acres.
Gawcott, lately made a separate ecclesiastical parish, is
listed separately
Bourton and Lenborough are each hamlets in the parish of Buckingham, from
which town the former is distant l 1/2 miles E., and the latter 2 miles S.
Population in 1861 - Bourton 44, Lenborough 53; acreage included in
Buckingham.
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